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Abstract
Fiber hemp plants (Cannabis sativa L.) display competitive and allelopathic activity against weeds. Fiber hemp essential oil (EO) was previously assessed for its antimicrobial properties. In this work we aimed to assess the allelopathic efficacy of this EO. The essential oil derived from the inflorescences of fiber hemp cv. ‘Bialobrzeskie’ contained mainly mono- and sesquiterpene hydrocarbons, as assessed by GC-MS analysis. In the laboratory test, the germination of three crops and five weeds in the presence of different doses of hemp EO was tested. The oil was an effective and dose-dependent inhibitor of germination and seedling growth. Based on the canonical variable and ED 50 value analyses, we found that the seedlings of redroot pigweed and rye brome were the most susceptible to hemp essential oil. Among the crops, the most resistant to the oil were oilseed rape and oats. Two groups of grasses of similar susceptibility to hemp EO were distinguished, one consisted the seedlings of maize and a barnyard grass from the Panicoideae botanical subfamily and the second the species of the Avena genus: oats and wild oats. FT-Raman spectroscopy analysis revealed that hemp EO modifies the composition of carbohydrates in wild oat seedlings. We conclude that hemp essential oil displays an allelopathic potential against germination and seedling growth in weeds and crops, and this phenomenon should be explored further.